Intervention: Ocean Blues is a cross-disciplinary performance by Laura Anderson Barbata in collaboration with the Brooklyn Jumbies, and the communities where they are invited to perform. The performance highlights the physical and emotional relationship maintained with the life of our ocean and the urgent need for collective transformation. The resulting work combines spoken word, dance, stilt dancing, improvisation, ritual, procession, sculptural costuming and music to create a unique form of storied performance that will unfold in the Grand Lobby at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Intervention: Ocean Blues is inspired by all the forms of life that make the ocean their home, in particular the extraordinary sea creatures that have the gift of producing their own light –bioluminescence- and live in the deepest and least explored depths of our ocean. It is a reminder that we must bring light to the crisis impacting life of our ocean and draw attention to the urgent need to elevate and change the values and practices of private industry, policy and our own personal choices. The performance unfolds in an urban environment highly dependent on the health of the oceans, even though it may not be overtly obvious to our urban communities. Intervention: Ocean Blues invites audiences to acknowledge our intersecting identities and, to celebrate and honor them by changing behaviors to protect our oceans.

First performed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, August 9th, 2018

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Laura Anderson Barbata
Born in Mexico City, Laura Anderson Barbata is a transdisciplinary artist best known for her collaborative social art projects, including Transcommunality. This project, a collaboration with the Brooklyn Jumbies, Los Zancudos de Zaachila from Oaxaca and artisans has been exhibited in numerous museums and public spaces internationally since 2001.

Barbata currently lives and works in Brooklyn and Mexico City, where she is Miembro del Sistema Nacional de Creadores, FONCA-CONACULTA. Her work is in various private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; el Museo de Arte Moderno, México D.F.; Landesbank Baden-Württemberg Gallery, Stuttgart, Germany; Fundación Cisneros, American Express Co., México; Museo Carrillo Gil, México; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California; Museo Jaureguía, Navarra, Spain and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary.
Her work has been featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Sculpture Today (Phaidon Press), Kunstforum Germany, ARTnews, Art in America, ArtNexus, and 160 Años de Fotografía en México (INBA).

Barbata is a recipient of the Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporaneo and Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center artist in residence for Latin American artists 2019; the Anonymous Was a Woman 2016 Award; Defense of Human Rights Award 2017, Instituto de Administración Pública de Tabasco, México; an Honorary Fellow of LACIS (the Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program), University of Wisconsin, Madison; and a Fellow of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary TBA21 The Current. Miembro del Sistema Nacional de Creadores, México (2014-2017) and professor at the Escuela Nacional de Escultura, Pintura y Grabado La Esmeralda of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes from 2010 until 2015.

The Brooklyn Jumbies
Brooklyn Jumbies Inc. is an organization whose sole purpose is to heighten the community’s cultural awareness of African and African-Caribbean culture. Brooklyn Jumbies performs stilt dancing, which is one of the numerous cultural elements of the African and Caribbean Diaspora. The founding members of Brooklyn Jumbies Inc. are Ali Sylvester and Najja Codrington. The Jumbies made it one of their goals to help revive knowledge, respect and pride in our traditions. The organization firmly believes that planting these seeds in the minds, hearts and spirit of the youth and the public is one of the keys to empowerment and self-determination for our people.

Since 2007 the Brooklyn Jumbies Inc. have worked closely with Laura Anderson Barbata presenting collaborative and outreach projects in Mexico and the US. Since 2008 they have collaborated with the Zancudos de Zaachila (traditional stilt dancers from Oaxaca). With Barbata they have performed in various public venues, streets and Museums, among the Modern Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, Museum of Modern Art, MoMA in New York, Centro Nacional de las Artes in Monterrey, Mexico and Museo de la Ciudad de México. Among their most significant performances are Intervention: Wall Street, presented in the Financial District of New York, 2011; Intervention: Indigo, presented in Brooklyn, New York and The Macy´s Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2015; Ocean Calling, presented at the United Nations Plaza, New York, 2017 and Intervention: Ocean Blues, presented at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Boston and Brooklyn, New York, 2019.

Amphibian Stage Productions
Amphibian Stage Productions is a non-profit theatre company founded in 2000 by three alumni of TCU's Department of Theatre who strive to produce innovative and engaging theatre that inspires new ideas, opens new doors, and increases our understanding of the vast world around us. Now launching its twentieth season, Amphibian has produced numerous groundbreaking and challenging plays (some regional premieres, others US or world premieres) that foster a deeper understanding of ourselves as members of the global community. The company is widely recognized for its stylistically and thematically varied scripts.

Committed to nurturing young and diverse audiences, Amphibian has developed a strong internship program, and a dynamic outreach project, Tad-Poles, that is steadily increasing the company’s visibility and following. New to Amphibian in 2018 is a multi-faceted outreach program designed for veterans of the US armed forces. The program includes workshops, special performances, and discounted tickets.